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Agence France-Presse

Polish prosecutors will on Tuesday present what they believe is proof that Solidarity leader Lech Walesa collaborated with the communist-era secret police, the national news agency PAP reported.
Citing unnamed sources close to the Institute of National Remembrance (IPN), which prosecutes crimes from the cold war era and from Nazi occupation, the PAP said on Sunday a team of forensic experts had come to that conclusion notably through handwriting analysis.
The 73-year-old former president and Nobel Peace laureate has been battling the allegations since last year, when the IPN seized previously unknown secret police files from the widow of a communist-era interior minister.
The IPN has said the files include a collaboration agreement signed with “Lech Walesa” and his alleged code name “Bolek”.

Walesa, who co-founded the independent Solidarity union and then negotiated a bloodless end to communism in Poland in 1989, has repeatedly denied the authenticity of the documents and once again called the accusation a “lie” on Saturday.
He enigmatically admitted however last year to having “made a mistake” and in the past had said he signed “a paper” for the secret police during one of his many interrogations.
Flashback: Man of Iron – Andrzej Wajda’s 1981 film on the Polish Solidarity strike
A book published by the IPN in 2008 alleged that while the regime registered Walesa as a secret agent in December 1970, he was cut loose in June 1976 due to his “unwillingness to cooperate”.
Poles have mixed feelings about Walesa. His boldness in standing up to the communist regime is still widely respected, but the combative and divisive tone of his later presidency earned him scorn in many quarters.


Polish Solidarity leader Lech Walesa was a spy, says report based on handwriting analysis

Lech Walesa, the former president of Poland, during an interview in his office in Gdañsk. Photo: AFP

FILE - The Nov. 16 1982 file photo shows former Solidarity leader Lech Walesa with two of his eight children, including Przemyslaw, far right. On Friday the Walesa family buried Przemyslaw, who was found dead last Sunday in his home at the age of 43. Investigators ruled out foul play or suicide. Though the exact cause of death was not given, Przemyslaw had struggled with alcoholism. (AP Photo)

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